Hello everyone!
Fans of the Twilight Saga have been practically BEGGING for this particular installment all that time, and the author finally decided this was the one open chapter from times past she wanted to close and put to rest.
I'm not going to lie, I was pretty stoked when news broke about the August release.
You can bet I grabbed this thing ASAP and read it through in two to three sittings.
Interestingly enough, while I thought it would take me a lot less, I needed to take my time with it to really enjoy it properly, which I did.
And before we dive straight in, let me just say, to all the haters out there: we all enjoy different things. If the boys can get a million installments of Fast and Furious, one more book for Twilight fans isn't going to break the world.
Midnight Sun is a worthy addition to any Twi-hard's shelf.
I'm actually not sure if I have ANY other reviews of Stephenie Meyer's books, which is a bit of a shame, all things considered, because she was quite a large part of my teenage years, and while never reaching the heights of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings (which remain my favourites, bar none), it was STILL pretty exciting.
If I have any, I'll like them down below. If not ... I may have to read this series again and document my journey!
But, I digress.
Midnight Sun, as pretty much everyone and their mother knows, follows Edward Cullen, the undead vampire frozen forever at 17, who falls in love with mortal Bella Swan after her arrival at Forks High School.
Bella moves here from sunny Arizona after her mother remarries, and she immediately gets drawn to the mysterious, broody "teenager" and his family, despite the fact a normal human's reaction is to back off in fear.
The story then goes to unfold further how Edward begins reciprocating those feelings - right after trying desperately NOT to kill her, as she has the most potent blood he has ever smelled in all his existence, so it's generally a workout just to keep her alive and therefore he's the most dangerous thing for her, ever.
Events unfold that prevent him from being completely detached, most notably the van incident when Bella's almost crushed by said vehicle skidding on ice, which Edward prevents by darting over to rescue her, thus risking exposure for himself and his family, though she isn't going to tell anyone.
And then of course there's the Port Angeles scenario where she's almost ganged up on and raped, but again Edward rushes in to save the day, and then slowly the pair of them start circling each other as potential dating material.
Oh yeah, and he also reveals to Bella he's a vampire.
From there on he takes her to meet his family and they go to play baseball with them, which launches us into the final act of the book when three nomads hear the game and come to investigate, which prompts James, a tracker, to get a whiff of Bella's scent and make it a game to try and kill her as she's protected by such a strong coven of fighters.
He nearly succeeds in Phoenix, Bella's hometown, but Edward and his family arrive in time to do away with James (good riddance to bad rubbish), though they realize he bit Bella to transform her into a vampire. Edward has to withstand the ultimate test - sucking the venom out when her blood calls to him so strongly - but in the end he's successful, Bella recovers, determines she's returning to Forks, and they go to prom together. Bella wants to become a vampire, but Edward doesn't want her to lose her soul, which leads them to an impasse - and the end of the book.
We all know the story, honestly. We've either read the book or seen the movie, which was pretty faithful to the original material, all things considered.
What we DON'T know, and DIDN'T know, were Edward's thoughts on the matter.
And not only do we get Edwar'd side of things, but we get a bunch of other people, too, because remember Edward can hear anybody's thoughts.
This means that each scene gets examined and played out with the mental chatter of other players in the game, including but not limited to Mike Newton and Jessica Stanley, as well as the other Cullens, and THOSE were the thoughts I wanted.
In Twilight, because it's written from Bella's perspective, we only get to read HER side of the story. And she's asleep for a good portion of the book, since, you know, human.
In Midnight Sun, we finally get to see how Edward spends his time at night - which, okay, most of it seems to be watching Bella sleep, but there are also snippets of conversations with his family, a trip to Denali, and the dealing with the rapist in Port Angeles that should all catch your attention.
And then there are the other Cullens.
We learn quickly how very loving and accepting Carlisle and Esme are (not that we didn't know before, but hearing their thoughts is a treat), how happy and enthusiastic Alice is about the prospect of Bella being her friend.
But I was most surprised by Emmett and Jasper.
Emmett always struck me as a fairly easygoing, non complicated individual, and Edward describes his mind best when he says it's a lake without shadows. What Emmett thinks, he says out loud, but it's so sweet reading his thought processes when things come to a head with the Bella and Jasper thing, and he plants himself front and center as her bodyguard with no deviation in his thoughts at all.
His brother loves this girl. Said girl didn't do anything to deserve this kind of treatment. She also laughs at Emmett's jokes and doesn't seem afraid of him, but rather might be someone to bond with. Therefore, Emmett will protect her to the very end, even against the wishes of his mate Rosalie, and this is further proven in one of the final Emmett-reads where he determines that Rosalie needs to get over herself, fast.
Rosalie herself is revealed as a much more flawed and aggressive individual as we initially see in Twilight - her mind is honestly a fairly negative place to be. She's consumed with regret over not being human anymore, and actually in one part, which I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, it's said she never forgave the Cullens for turning her into a vampire!
Like, really, Rosalie? REALLY?
She didn't endear herself to me any more by knowing her thoughts - her jealousy and straight-up cold heartedness only made me dislike her more.
And then we come to Jasper.
Jasper was always described as one of the weaker links in the Cullen chain as he's the newest to the vegetarian lifestyle they practice, and the one most likely to slip. Later on, he does reveal himself to be a master warrior and strategist, but even so there's always some stigma around him.
This book BLOWS that out of the room with a vengeance.
Jasper's skills are a hell of a lot more varied than initially given credit for, as it's revealed he uses them to cloak Bella and some of the others at that baseball game during the confrontation to make them uninteresting and keep attention off them. He also keeps HIMSELF cloaked, so that when James finally gets a good look at him - scars and all - he knows it's game over, but he equally strengthens Emmett's menacing presence and keeps everyone as calm as possible.
I also really liked the callback - or call forward, whichever - to Breaking Dawn, in which Bella complains about Jasper hovering all the time, but Edward explains he's there because she's always so happy, and he's drawn to it.
This is already quite pronounced in this particular book, as Edward can read just how addictive the mood is for Jasper whenever he's close-by, and it's one of the many reasons why he wants to preserve it, if possible, but equally because of his specific gift, he can tell just how much Edward cares and has changed, and he wants to perpetuate it.
In one word, it's honestly amazing, and I LOVED it.
I loved being in the Cullens' heads some more and I loved listening to the workings of their minds. I also enjoyed reading about all the instances Edward's gone out of Bella's sight and what he's doing.
To me, this was an entertaining addition to the saga, and I don't regret picking it up and reading it. Edward doesn't excuse his behaviour - he acknowledges he's a stalker and an array of other problematic situations, so he's not looking for someone to apologise for him, which is also an interesting twist. He's aware of all of it, but can't stay away just the same. At least he's not delusional and trying to justify it, you know?
PLUS we're told that Edward could have clocked on to Jacob being a werewolf with all the talk about scent and all. Isn't that neat?
PLUS we're told that Edward could have clocked on to Jacob being a werewolf with all the talk about scent and all. Isn't that neat?
And with the news there might be TWO other books to add to the saga - eventually - this is where I leave you. Enjoy the read!
xx
*image not mine
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